Gaming machines which provide awards to players in primary or base games are known. Such gaming machines generally require the player to make a wager to activate or play the primary or base game. In many of these gaming machines, the award is based on the player obtaining a winning symbol or winning symbol combination and on the amount of the wager (e.g., the higher the wager, the higher the award) for the play of the primary or base game. Symbols or symbol combinations which are less likely to occur usually result in higher awards.
Gaming machines which provide secondary or bonus games are also known. Access to secondary or bonus games may depend upon a player's wagering activity. For example, a gaming machine may require a player to wager a specific amount, such as a maximum wager, or an additional wager by the player, to provide the player with access to the secondary or bonus game. Secondary or bonus games are generally activated or triggered upon an occurrence of a designated triggering event, such as upon a generation of a triggering symbol or triggering symbol combination, in the primary or base game. For instance, a bonus symbol occurring on a payline on a third reel of a three reel slot machine may trigger a secondary or bonus game. When a secondary or bonus game is triggered, the gaming machine generally indicates this triggering through one or more visual and/or audio output devices, such as the reels, lights, speakers, video screens, or other visual and/or audio output devices of the gaming machine.
Progressive awards are also known. In one form, a progressive award or progressive award pool is an award amount which includes an initial or reset amount funded by a gaming establishment and an additional or player contribution amount funded through wagers made on plays of the games of the gaming system. For example, a casino may fund the initial or reset amount by contributing a designated amount to the progressive award and the gaming system may fund an additional amount of the progressive award with player contributions by allocating a portion of each wager placed on each play of the game, such as by allocating 1.0% of each wager placed on a play of a game of one of the gaming machines, to the progressive award. In certain gaming systems, less than all wagers are used to fund the progressive award. For example, in certain gaming systems, only wagers which result in the player having an opportunity to win the progressive award are used to fund that progressive award.
Generally, a progressive award grows in value as more players wager on plays of the game and more portions of those players' wagers are allocated to fund the progressive award. When any player obtains a winning outcome associated with the progressive award (e.g., a winning symbol or winning symbol combination), such gaming systems provide the player with the progressive award and reset the progressive award to a value equal to the initial or reset amount funded by the casino. After resetting the award, subsequent wagers by the players fund the new progressive award.
A progressive award in one form is allocated to or associated with a single gaming machine. In another form, a progressive award is allocated to or associated with a plurality of gaming machines, such as a bank of gaming machines having physical proximity with one another. In some gaming systems, wherein a plurality or bank of gaming machines share or are associated with a same progressive award, the number of such sharing gaming machines is designated for a duration associated with the progressive award. For example, eight gaming machines in a bank each provide players an opportunity to win a progressive award. In some gaming systems, wherein two or more banks are associated with a same progressive award, the number of gaming machines associated with a same progressive award may vary. For example, hundreds of gaming machines at dozens of banks across a plurality of gaming establishments in a plurality of geographic regions may each provide players an opportunity to win a same progressive award. In such an implementation, a gaming establishment can add or remove gaming machines from association with the existing progressive award at any time. However, addition or removal of gaming machines in such gaming systems requires hardware and other alterations to the gaming system, and is extremely time and labor intensive.
Certain gaming systems can be implemented in a networked environment, such as over the Internet, to enable a plurality of players to each participate simultaneously in plays of the game using their own personal electronic device. For example, certain gaming systems enable a plurality of players to access those gaming systems via one or more web browsers running on one or more client computers, such as one or more desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile telephones, netbooks, or other appropriate computing devices. Thus, players from different geographic locations each participate in a same game by accessing an appropriate server and providing wagers on plays of the game (e.g., by causing an electronic transfer of such wager amounts from a bank account).
Moreover, certain gaming jurisdictions impose restrictions on gaming, and particularly on gaming machines which provide players with opportunities to win progressive awards. For example, certain jurisdictions require that any progressive award which is shown to any player eventually be provided to one or more players. In some such jurisdictions, both an initial amount provided by the gaming establishment (sometimes referred to as a seed amount or a reset amount), and the portion of the progressive award funded by player wagers, must be provided to one or more players. Certain jurisdictions require that an instantaneous Return to Player (“RTP”) amount, measured as a percentage, never falls below a designated threshold (e.g., 75%), and that a long-term average RTP not change for a given game unless a particular regulatory process is followed. Certain jurisdictions further require that non-qualifying wagers (e.g., wagers not of a sufficient magnitude) not be used to fund a progressive award. Certain jurisdictions also impose maximum odds limitations (e.g., the odds of winning a progressive cannot be worse than 50,000,000 to one). Finally, whether or not it is styled as a jurisdictional requirement, many gaming system operators do not provide games whose progressive award hit frequencies fall below a certain frequency (e.g., wherein a progressive award is won less than once a year).
A need exists to provide such a scalable game which enables a gaming establishment to provide a reasonably consistent gaming experience to its players while conforming to various jurisdictional requirements.
Certain players of known gaming systems want to win relatively large progressive awards even if the relatively large progressive awards hit or are won relatively infrequently. For such players, the frequent hitting of a progressive and the resetting in value of such progressive award prevents the progressive award from growing to such relatively high values. Certain other players of known gaming systems want to wager on plays of a game wherein the gaming system provides a progressive award relatively frequently. Such players experience excitement and anticipation based on the frequency at which the progressive award is hit rather than based on the magnitude of the award. These players prefer to see the progressive award hit frequently, as each hit represents another opportunity to win the progressive award regardless of the value. Accordingly, a need exists for gaming systems, gaming devices, and methods to dynamically group players to provide progressive awards to satisfy varying desired gaming experiences with respect to the progressive awards.
Known gaming systems, which typically exhibit a limited range of progressive award incrementation, a limited range of frequency of progressive award payouts, and other typical limitations, may provide a desired gaming experience when hundreds of players are participating, but may provide a less than desirable experience when only a few players are participating. Thus, a further need exists to provide a gaming system which is scalable to provide a reasonably consistent gaming experience regardless of significant changes in the quantity of players wagering on plays of the game.